HARTPURY head coach, Mark Cornwell, was a relieved man after his team won a breathless game in the sunshine against a free-running London Scottish.
“We made that harder for ourselves than we should have done”, he said. “We controlled the game for long stretches but kept coughing the ball up at vital moments and Scottish had some dangerous runners – I only relaxed when we were 20 points up with five minutes to play!”
The result ensures that Hartpury will be playing Championship rugby again next season, after a run of five wins in seven games rescued them from the drop, with one fixture still to play.
Overall, Cornwell's team were good value for the win, but the mistakes that he referred to ensured that this was no comfortable ride.
Three first half tries had Hartpury looking strong just before the break, at 21-5. Sam Graham, Will Tanner and man of-the match, Lewis Ludlow, all crossed as the Hartpury forwards asserted themselves.
Given the balance of possession and territory, Hartpury will feel that they should have had more. But Scottish closed things up on the whistle, as a break from centre Tom Fowlie was finished by winger Rob Stevenson, who had earlier scored to negate Graham's opener for Hartpury.
The second half started well for the hosts, as Ludlow doubled his tally following a huge break from back row colleague Graham. Things got even better three minutes later as Scottish, overplaying deep in their own territory, threw a loose ball and Ben Foley sprinted home. Sam Leeming's boot was precise all afternoon and Hartpury were looking good, at 35-12.
The game became more open as the Exiles ran at every opportunity and two tries in an 11- minute spell, both scored by wing Miles Mantella, put doubts back into the home crowd's minds. But this was a day on which Hartpury just had to win, and a final effort saw them home.
A Leeming penalty stretched the lead back beyond 14 points and it was the forwards, again, who saw Hartpury home. A lineout on the Exiles 22 produced a strong drive before flanker Rob Langley peeled off to score.
“There was never any question of us switching off”, said Exiles DoR, Dave Morris. “But Hartpury were clearly highly motivated for the win.”
